


home safe

by watergator



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: 2010 Era (Phandom), Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-25
Updated: 2020-01-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:20:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22406353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/watergator/pseuds/watergator
Summary: dan becomes stranded in london
Relationships: Dan Howell/Phil Lester
Comments: 11
Kudos: 110





	home safe

When they make it to the train station they soon realise there’s no trains to Reading.

Phil’s already starting to feel the anxious swirl in his gut that comes from the uncertainty of the situation. Things weren’t exactly planned when Dan came down to visit these past couple of days. It hasn’t been like their previous meetings where there had been train tickets booked in advance and their journeys home mapped to and fro.

Instead it had been spontaneous, and a seemingly good idea at the time. But right now Dan’s looking at the train schedule with a worried bottom lip between his teeth.

Phil reads it, but it’s seemingly useless. He might as well be reading a different language.

“I could go to Paddington,” Dan suggests. “And get the train back out of London and into Reading.”

He turns to face Phil, he looks a little less worried than himself, and maybe for good reason. Maybe Dan knows what he’s doing and it’s going to be fine.

But the thought still scares him. His tummy twists and he shifts from foot to foot.

“London?” He squeaks. “Dan it’s nearly dark out.”

They both take a glance at a nearby window, simultaneously to see that the sky is in fact turning from blue to black rather rapidly.

Dan swallows, the bob of his faint Adam’s apple evident. 

“Phil, I’m not a child,” he says with a shake of his head. “I do know how to get on and off of a train.”

Phil sucks in a breath. Sometimes he really is confronted with their age gap.

Four years isn’t an awful lot, but sometimes he’s able to see Dan’s naive nature in which presents itself in his ability to see past problems that he simply decides to ignore.

Still. He has no real choice here. 

Dan needs to get home and they have no other way of getting him there. Not unless he could badger his mum into lending him her car and he drove them the distance.

But after a mere few seconds of the idea bouncing around in his head, he realises Dan would probably be safer in London than at his hands behind the wheel.

“Just. Text me. Okay? Let me know you’re alright?” He tells him.

Dan’s face breaks into a grin. He’s going to miss it. He’s going to miss all of it. All of Dan.

“Of course I will, silly,” Dan says with a half giggle.

“Good,” Phil croaks. It feels bittersweet.

Every time Dan leaves it hurts, like a punch to the gut leaving him doubled over. But every time he does go, it comes with a promise to come back.

And every time they promise each other another visit, it’s always something nice to look forward to. A countdown on his calendar that has him excited to bounce out of bed and tick off the day, growing closer and closer to being together again.

“Come on,” Dan says, reaching out and tugging at the cuff of Phil’s coat. “Let's get a ticket. I don’t want to miss this train as well.”

*

They don’t kiss goodbye.

They never do. Not in public at least.

The last kiss had been back in Phil’s room, when Dan really should have been getting up and packing his bag; the contents of which had managed to intertwine themselves with Phil’s stuff. Not that it mattered, since Phil quite liked finding the odd Dan shirt mixed in with his laundry every now and then.

The kiss had been long and sweet and loving, and once Dan’s on the train, hand pressed up against the window as he begins to roll out of the station, Phil swears he can still taste him on his lips, like his presence there never left.

It doesn’t take long for his phone to buzz in his pocket.

**miss u :[ </3**

Phil lets out a heavy sigh, feeling like an absolute lovesick puppy. He’s not sure when this feeling of heartache will ever end every time he has to watch Dan disappear into a tiny dot, but he’s beginning to think that maybe the only solution is never being apart again. He smiles at the thought. Someday it’ll happen. He’s sure of it.

*

He gets home after almost missing the bus, and as soon as he’s in his room he gives Dan a call. He answers on the first ring.

“Hello you,” Dan speaks softly into the speaker. It makes Phil wonder if he’s alone on the carriage.

He likes it when he is. He gets to have Dan to himself, when he’s not holding himself back in front of anyone. It’s like he can exist how he does when it’s just the two of them, tucked up in his bedroom.

But Dan’s hushed voice indicates that maybe he has a train mate with him. It’s fine though, Phil thinks. As long as he can hear Dan’s voice it’s fine.

“I miss you, you know? Like a crazy amount.” Phil sighs, flopping into his bed, letting it squeak under his weight.

Dan chuckles. “I’m fairly positive that’s unhealthy, Phil.” He pauses before adding, “But me too. I want to turn this train around and come back to you.”

Phil smiles, staring up at his ceiling. “Please do.”

Dan laughs at that and Phil is able to picture his dopey grin and his double dimples and his crinkled eyes, and Phil wishes more than ever he could just reach through the screen and pull him out, just to have him and hold him and cover him in kisses.

“What’s the sentencing for train hijacking do you reckon?” Dan asks, still playing along in the sweet little things that they do sometimes.

Phil hums. “Dunno. But if you go to prison I’ll do something just as bad to get in there with you,” he tells him.

He’s envisioning Dan in the classic inmate outfit, stripes and all. It’d look good on him.

“You’d look good in stripes,” he says out loud. 

Dan snorts a giggle. “Yeah? Is this some weird fantasy of yours?” He asks, voice dipping down as it goes lower. 

Phil laughs. “Maybe I just like naughty boys.”

“Yeah well. I might have to be one once I get off this train in London,” Dan tells him. “If I run into any.”

The tone shifts for flirty and silly to something more serious. Phil sits up off his bed.

“Don’t joke,” Phil tells him. “You’ll be okay yeah?”

Dan scoffs, “Phil. I’m messing with you. I’m sure it’ll be fine. If anyone tries to stab me I’ll just flail around my noodle limbs to warn them off.”

Phil can tell that his lighthearted nature is to reassure Phil that he  _ will  _ be alright. Besides, all Dan has to do is walk from one station to the next.

It’s not exactly difficult and there will be enough people around him that if trouble was to break out, he’d hope that someone would be around to help him.

He shakes the thought out of his head; a vision of Dan being mugged, tackled to the ground as passers by do nothing but step over him. 

It appears his childhood fear of London never really did leave him.

He hears a crackle over the phone that has him jumping out of his head.

“You’re overthinking,” Dan says plainly. “Aren’t you?”

Phil swallows thickly. “A little bit,” he tells him.

“Don’t,” Dan says softly. “I’m fine, besides the fact I would rather go back to yours than to my own home, it’ll be alright.”

Phil tilts his head back to press against his pillow and lets out a long, drawn out sigh.

“Okay. I love you.”

He swears he can just feel Dan’s smile radiate through the phone. 

“I love you too.”

*

Phil wakes to his phone buzzing.

He cracks open his eyes, his vision blurry, the room too dark to even see a hand in front of his face, and when he sits up, he realises he must have fallen asleep after coming off the phone with Dan, still dressed in his jeans and T-shirt and even his shoes.

It takes him a moment for his brain to start working properly again, when he remembers what woke him up in the first place. His phone is still vibrating against his head, and he when he picks it up, he’s almost blinded by the full brightness of his screen.

He first realised there’s two Dan tweets flashed up, and three missed calls. His heart sinks in his chest before he answers the call with a trembling thumb, pressing his phone to his ear with a state of urgency.

“Dan?” He croaks.

There’s an intake of a shaky breath, a hiccup before Dan speaks.

“I tried calling,” is all he says.

Phil’s sat up in bed now, swinging his legs over his bed to get up and switch his light on. The rest of the house is dark and quiet and Phil assumes his parents are probably already asleep.

“Dan,” he says as he stumbles back to his bed where he presses his knees to his chest. It makes him feel safer when he feels so open and unsure. 

“Dan, where are you?”

There’s a sniffle, something sounding echoes and it takes a moment for Dan to reply.

“In a toilet.”

Phil frowns. “What?” 

He’s still tired and probably a touch delirious, but he’s sure of what he heard, and sure that he’s not making any sense whatsoever.

“I’m at Paddington. I’m in a cubicle.”

Dan’s voice is wavering, and now it makes sense why it sounds so echoed. Phil’s still frowning though, sure that the crease between his brows is about to become permanent.

“What? Why? Who are you with?”

His heart starts to thump against his chest. Panic is setting in, and he’s sure he could say the same about Dan.

“I’m fucking stranded, Phil,” Dan’s voice cracks again, and it more evident that he’s crying.

Phil just wants to get down there, pull him from the stinky, pissy toilet stall and hold him, wrapping him up and never letting him go.

“I don’t have any money for a ticket, Phil. I dunno how to get home. I have fuck all in my account.”

He sounds more on edge now. There’s anger laced into his words, but it’s mostly just panic.

Phil swallows dryly as he wracks his brain for some ideas, just  _ one  _ that’s going to stop them both from freaking out, and more importantly, keep Dan safe.

Phil’s stomach twists.

“Have you called your parents?” He tries. He knows it’s instantly going to be thrown back in his face, but it’s worth a try.

Dan lets out a harsh and bitter laugh. “Fuck no. They didn’t even know I was out with you,” he reminds him. “I don’t think they’d be willing to come get me after I willingly fucked off.”

Phil chews on his lip. His own instincts if he were in Dan’s position would be to call his mum. He knows she’d drop anything to come collect him and make sure he’s safe.

His heart aches in his chest, reminded that that kind of relationship doesn’t exist with Dan and his mother.

He doesn’t dwell on the thought for too long.

“Could you maybe get a room for the night? I could come get you tomorrow,” Phil suggests, his voice edging on desperate now.

But Dan just hiccups another small cry.

“No,” he says sadly. “I have no money, Phil. I can’t go anywhere.”

Phil’s heart is twisting and turning inside his chest.

It only hurts more when Dan whispers down the phone.

“I’m scared.”

Of course he is. He’s stranded in a big city, all alone, a backpack full of day old clothes and one crappy laptop and nothing else other than an empty wallet.

Phil feels scared for him, and he’s at home, in his bed, tucked up where it’s warm and safe.

It’s cold outside, and Phil knows that Dan’s coat isn’t suitable enough for the January weather, especially since he’d hounded him about it so many times though teasing banter and loving looks.

“Okay.” Phil says quickly. “Okay. Just. Just don’t panic, yeah?”

Dan sniffs. “Too late for that, mate.”

Phil bites hard on his lip, almost to the point of drawing blood.

“Shall I come and get you?” He asks. He’ll probably kill himself before he even makes it to London, but he can try. He’ll steal his mums car keys and suffer the consequences if it means getting Dan out of this miserable situation.

Dan sniffs. “No, it’s fine I—“

He stops, just as a door creaks and there’s the sound of footsteps. Phil holds his breath like he’s there in the room with him. “Someone just came in,” Dan whispers quietly. “I’ll go find a place to charge my phone and call you back, yeah?”

Phil can hear movement on the end of the line and his licks at his poor, abused lip and nods.

“Alright. Call me. I love you.”

“You too.” And with that, the call is disconnected.

Phil drops the phone from his ear to look at his screen. The tweets from Dan not long ago are still there. 

**_coming home from manchester, but theres no train to reading! I have to go to paddington first, and hope I don’t miss the last train o_o eep_ **

Then, a little while later Dan had tweeted again. Phil guesses it must have been only a short amount of time before the missed calls and their eventual conversation.

**_so now I have absolutely no money in my bank and I’m stranded in london :’( this hasn’t been a good evening_ **

Phil stares down at the tweets like if he tries hard enough it’ll make them disappear along with all the problems they indicate.   
  
He hates the idea of a poor Dan out there alone right now. He could go steal the car keys if needed. The urge to do so grows with each ticking second that Dan doesn’t call back.   
  
He feels like he’s going stir crazy just sat in the empty quietness of his room. It feels unfair that only yesterday Dan was here with him, and now he’s alone and afraid.

He reopens Twitter, ready to vent his frustrations to anyone that’ll listen. A quick jab of his thumb and the tweet is sent. It fills him with the tiniest amount of satisfaction.

**_*rage* at virgin trains_ ** **_  
_ **   
He’s considering tweeting a second time, something more serious and petty, but his phone buzzes suddenly and it makes him jump before he’s quickly snatching it up and fumbling to answer, pressing it eagerly to his ear.   
  
“Dan?”   
  
“Phil,” Dan speaks, his voice light with relief and it settles something calmer in Phil’s chest. It far away from the way he was sounding just minutes ago.   
  
“Where are you? Did you manage to get some money for a train? Are you okay?” He asks him all at once. The question of whether he should go get him sits heavy on the tip of his tongue. He knows Dan’s already refused but he’ll ask a million times over if he thinks it’s the best thing for him.   
  
“I’m okay,” Dan tells him. He sounds tired, but nonetheless, he sounds alright and totally not dead in a London tube toilet somewhere.   
  
“What’re you doing?” Phil asks him, hugging his knees to his chest again. “Are you safe?”   
  
There’s the sound of another voice faintly on the line and Dan hums. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m with Tom,” he tells him. Phil blinks.   
  
“Tom?”   
  
There’s more talking before Dan says into the speaker.    
  
“Tom from the Halloween Gathering?”   
  
Phil has to think for a few moments before it clicks. He vaguely remembers a Tom. Nice, straight guy that was far better at socialising than the pair of them.   
  
Phil lets out a heavy sigh before he hears a slightly familiar voice.   
  
“Hi Phil!”   
  
“Tom, thank you so much,” Phil is quick to say. He’s not really sure where they stand with Tom in terms of their relationship, but the sound of ease in his voice must surely give it away.   
  
Either that or Dan already telling him, because Tom then says,   
  
“Don’t worry, I’ve got your beloved hauled up with me for the night. No need to worry now, eh mate?”   
  
Phil grins, and imagines how Dan would have talked about him to this Tom guy. He kinda is in love with the idea of his boyfriend gushing about him to other people.   
  
“Oh,” Phil says with a shaky laugh. “Good. Thank you. Thanks so much. I would have come up and got him myself but-”   
  
He’s cut off with a rumbling laugh, and he can just about hear Dan’s laugh too.   
  
“But I hear your driving skills leave much to be desired, hm?” Tom finishes for him.   
  
Phil just laughs. “Exactly.”   
  
“Well. I’m safe now,” Dan says, and it seems like he’s back off loud speaker and it’s just them now.   
  
“I love you,” Phil says. It feels like it needs to be said now more than ever.   
  
Dan gives him a low laugh, the kind that is genuine and usually matched with that deep red patch on his jaw.   
  
“Yeah,” Dan says quietly. “I know.”   
  
“Go get some sleep. Text me in the morning, yeah?”   
  
As if on cue, Dan yawns and it makes Phil chuckle.   
  
“Of course. G’night, Phil.”   
  
“Night, Dan. Love you,” he says again.   
  
There’s a pause, and for a small moment Phil wonders if he’ll say it back in front of Tom. He wouldn’t be upset if he didn’t but there’s a hum over the line and Dan speaks in a sleepy voice.   
  
“Love you more.”   
  
They eventually hang up and Phil presses his palm over his chest. Tonight had been stressful.   
  
His phone pings and it’s another tweet from Dan, thanking Tom for his generosity of letting him stay over at his.   
  
Phil types his own tweet, a mere  **_< 3 _ ** with Tom’s twitter handle tagged.   
  
A few moments later and he has a text from Dan. It makes him smile.   
  
**_oi i though i only ever got love heart tweets >:(_ **

Phil chuckles to himself, biting down on his thumb from being any louder.   
  
He quickly sends back a text back.   
****

**_You get my real life heart tho ^.^_ **

It doesn’t take long for another text to come through.   
  
**_good :] ur my real hero anyways <3_ **

Phil looks at the text for a while. Sometimes it feels unreal that Dan is really, truly in love with him like this. It still sends a flurry of butterflies to erupt in his chest, and wonders if ten years from now, it’ll be the same.    
  
He hopes it will be.   
  
**_Always babe. Love you lots. Stay warm tonite plz <333_ **

Phil’s phone buzzes in his hand his chest floods with warmth as he looks down at the text.   
  
**_would be a lot warmer with you snuggled up to me :[ love u miss u see u soon </3_ **

Phil is sure that this feeling right here will never ever fade.   
  
He’s certain of it. 

**Author's Note:**

> come say hi on tumblr !! @watergator


End file.
